This is part of a sponsored collaboration with Latina Mom Bloggers and JCPenney. However, all opinions expressed are my own.
Back in Guatemala my mother loved to celebrate Thanksgiving. Most people don’t celebrate the holiday but some have adopted it and at our house it was a formal event with a huge turkey, canned cranberry sauce (since we don’t get fresh cranberries in Guatemala) and pecan pie. My aunt moved to the US when my mom was very young and her family would visit every year so she got used to celebrating this American holiday as a child and continued with the tradition once we where born but for us it was just an excuse to get together and eat turkey.
Since I moved to the United States the holiday has really taken a whole new meaning for me. Although what we eat is similar, with a few additions including freshly made cranberry sauce, now it’s not just about the food. Now I really understand the meaning of the holiday and for my children it’s a very special occasion as they hear about it and learn about it at school and from their friends.
Something that has also changed for me about the holiday since I celebrate it with my own kids is that instead of making this a formal dinner, like it was when I was growing up, we now make it more about the kids. For us Thanksgiving is day to spend with our children, we do crafts, play games and have fun in a relaxed environment. For me creating those fun family memories is more important than getting the turkey right, yes I have burned more than one turkey!
As with most of our traditions we have incorporated a little of our culture into the holiday mostly I’ve done this by creating recipes that include a Latino touch like my cranberry carambola (starfruit) sauce, my eggnog and cranberry arroz con leche and while we do not eat tamales for dinner we do have tamales for breakfast on Thanksgiving day and after dinner I love to sit in the living room after the kids are in bed and sip some ponche de frutas. For me that tamal breakfast kind of kicks off the holiday season as it reminds me of holidays spent in Guatemala with my family who I don’t get to see much now.
I want to share with you the new JCPenney “Real Holidays by Real Families” video series. I really identified with this video as the family is also from Guatemala. I think it’s adorable how the boy in the video loves tamales so much (who can blame him, Guatemalan tamales are the best tamales!) he wants to call Thanksgiving Tamalgiving!
Holidays are celebrated in a unique way by each family, each family adding their own personal touch, focusing in what is important to them and blending traditions, foods and music just as we blend our different cultures and I love that JCPenney recognizes this. JCPenney will be the first retail brand that celebrates what a REAL Christmas is like for Latinos through stories by Latino children and their families. JCPenney Latino is here to help families find the things that make their holidays special.
You can visit the JCPenney Website and like JCPenney Latino on Facebook to watch other videos in the series.
Paula studied architecture and now makes a living as a freelance writer,traveler and amateur photographer.She started her writing & publishing career as the editor of Bebé y Mamá, the first parenting magazine in Guatemala.She is the founder of www.GrowingUpBilingual.com and www.365thingsswfl.com and writes articles in Spanish and English for both magazines and the web on travel,food and bicultural and bilingual parenting .
When she is not on a plane or road trip she likes to create recipes inspired in the flavors of her native Guatemala.
- Guatemalan Dulce de Chilacayote Recipe (Crystalized Chilacayote Candy) - February 26, 2024
- Guatemalan Naranjas en Miel Recipe (Candied Oranges Recipe) - February 25, 2024
- Traditional Guatemalan Candy - February 25, 2024
Celebramos las fiestas a lo grande,toda la familia reunida, ponemos el arbol de navidad y damos gracias por estar juntos y por un año mas de vida.
Yo celebro Thanksgiving estilo americano , me encanta esta costumbre es muy hermosa y la comparto en familia es un dia muy especial ya que viajamos a pasar con la gran familia . Gracias por el sorteo , espero la suerte me acompane .
Es una tradicion muy hermosos la q mas me gusta y combinamos el sabor latino de la comida ! Y poder Dar gracias Toda la familia y amigos y escuchamos musica y la pasamos muy bien como latino en una tradicion americana q ya es parte de nuestra vida
I guess it’s unique that we eat Portuguese food during Thanksgiving (my husband is Portuguese).
This is an awesome video. I can totally relate. I would have a tamalesgiving any day. Ha Ha. and we actually do.
Que lindo video 🙂 me hiso reir el nene, en casita haremos tamales y pavo con el toque latino, gracias por el sorteo!!! suerte para todas!! 😀
On Thanksgiving day we celebrate cooking the traditional turkey, but also baked ham. I like the turkey ham and my husband so we combine both customs and celebrate in our own way. Mainly we thank God for benefits received throughout the year and for all the blessings.
We go around the table and each share what we are thankful for in our lives.
We always have homemade sundaes to go along with all the pies!
just getting together as a family makes me happy
We don’t do anything unique, just have a big turkey dinner.
Sometimes we cook goose stuffed with apples instead of turkey
Well we don’t do anything that unusual but we do fry a turkey breast instead of the entire turkey and fry green beans with bacon
yo no tengo mucho tiempo celebrndo esta fecha . aunq es una tradicion americana le ponemos el sabor mexicano y lo disfrutamos en fam
We each go around the table and say what we are thankful for.
We are vegetarian so we always celebrate Thanksgiving at my grandparents and they make Manicotti for my family and me.
My Thanksgiving is unique because we celebrate with non-traditional foods.
I always cook shrimp as well…a bit out of the norm haha
One of my unique traditions is playing games with the family.
We celebrate with the best of both worlds. We eat traditional thanksgiving food like turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. But we also add in some Mexican treats like tamales, arroz Mexicano, y ojarascas.
We eat a big dinner and draw names for Christmas. Nothing unique.
Yo vine a USA a conocer esta tradicion, sin embargo en Mexico siempre damos gracias a Dios por los alimentos que recibimos, asi que aqui vine a celebrar a lo grande y aprender de nuevas costumbres. Me encanto el video.
We always go around the table and say one thing we are thankful for! Everyone always brings a dish to share!
This year we are having Thanksgiving on Friday not on Thursday.
Maybe we are unique because we keep it very traditional. Parade in the morning, turkey at noon and then football!
hmmm we celebrate thanksgiving in a unique way as that we combine families in ways most wouldnt. mom and dad but with step parents as well
We don’t really have any unique traditions… this post has inspired me to start some though!
we have a special tablecloth that everyone signs each thanksgiving and dates. its interesting to see over the years who was there.
This year we added Guatemala buñuelos and anise sauce in addition to pumpkin pies.
We do not do anything out of the ordinary. All of the family in the area gets together at one of our homes for a traditional meal.
We just have a big Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings at my grandma’s with the whole family
We just have a traditional Thanksgiving.
Cute video. We do Thanksgiving a little different every year. This year we made red chile frito pies.
we eat seafood for thanksgiving